Halo: On the Edge of Tomorrow
by Commander-059
Summary: One bullet. One change. Humanity has new leadership. New weapons. A new way to wage war. Cry Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!
1. Chapter 1: Hood

Halo

On the Edge of Tomorrow

A Fan Novel by CMDR Fr33zy

PART I: TURKEY TROTS TO WATER...

CHAPTER 1: HOOD

APRIL 22nd, 2526 2473 HOURS

NEW ALEXANDRIA, ACHOSY TERRITORY, REACH

HIGHCOM HQ

Sitting in the near silent conference room deep in the heart of HIGHCOM, Rear Admiral Terrence Hood was biting his fingernails. Reading over initial reports from the Combined Fleet at Harvest, the Briton could do nothing but return to a dirty nervous tick that his parents had specifically hired a tutor to cure him of decades ago. He hadn't done it in ages, not even during the worst parts of his career when as a newly minted officer he had fought the Insurrectionists in brutal and deadly space combat. This was all before February 2525 however. This was before the poor souls of the Colonial Military Authority discovered that humanity was not alone in the stars. They had found alien life, and it was angry. Knocked from his thoughts by the opening of a heavy metal door, a UNSC Marine Corps Lance Corporal, immaculate in his dress blue uniform and shining leather Master-At-Arms belt with gleaming M6D locked and loaded in its holster opened the door, snapped to attention and called

"Admiral on deck!"

Instantly, Hood and his 22 fellow admirals snapped to attention for the man who followed. Already in his early fifties, Fleet Admiral David Menendez certainly showed his age. Buzzed salt-and-pepper hair topped his head where a few years before one would have found well-kept black waves. While he still cut an imposing figure standing a hair over six feet tall, he now walked with a pronounced stoop-the result of planetary gravity on a frame that had spent much of its life in zero or micro-G. It was clear to all the men seated that the Fleet Admiral was tired. Chosen for the position of Chief of Naval Operations for the entire United Nations Space Command, one could not deny that the Admiral excelled at his job, and despised it nearly as much. The news that had come from the colony of Harvest-who's hologram currently hovered half a meter over the conference table-had only served to age Menendez more it seemed.

The man had a bad heart-the result of a horrible combat action over Eridanus III with Insurrectionists more than 20 years ago. The then Commander had been manning the comm when a surprise attack by a terrorist-controlled tug had rammed his ship, the UNSC _Chippawa_ , causing severe damage and causing the then-Commander to violently slam into a bulkhead, putting his heart into cardiac tamponade. He had been saved but his heart and vasculature had been damaged. The man had walked with a cane in Earth-G ever since, but it certainly had never slowed him down. Hood noticed that as he stepped into the room and walked to the podium at the front, that after a few seconds he immediately changed demeanor, standing straight, and stealing his gaze to look over the entire room of officer who together had decades of experience leading men into battle in space.

"At ease gentlemen...we've little time for formalities today. Our friend Mister Cole has engaged the enemy, and we have a new report from the Prowler _Sombra_ that he has won."

At this news, a smattering of claps passed over the table, though what was most audible was a few signs of obvious relief. Hood himself let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and he removed the tip of his thumbnail from his mouth before he subconsciously took another nibble. It was a huge relief to a tactician to know that his enemy _could_ be beaten.

"He suffered over 60% casualties…" Menendez finally stated. The somber attitude of the room returned, and suddenly, damn his childlike mannerisms, he wanted to light up a cigarette just to get the shaking to stop.

"Major losses included 12 new _Primal_ class destroyers, 10 _Charon_ Frigates, a Halcyon-class cruiser _Matador_ , and the Marathon _Prometheus_. In one engagement, we have lost more warships than in the previous 10 years of fighting the Insurrection combined...obviously, this information must be distributed to the public as...gently as possible." Menendez continued. He leaned heavily against the podium as he continued. The MAA continued to watch the room silently, standing a step behind and to the right of the Admiral.

As the other fleet officers began discussing the logistics regarding the loss of what would normally constitute an entire CMA battle fleet, Hood caught the gaze of the Fleet Admiral, who called him to the front with a silent wave. Terence passed a half dozen admirals on the way. To the front, slipping past Admiral Motti, in charge of PERSCOM who was sitting silently and reading the after-action report of the engagement, Rear Admiral Danforth Whitcomb who was already in deep conversation with Rear Admirals Jacobs and Jiang regarding methods of fighting this new threat, and Captain Zavala, an aid to Whitcomb, who was perspiring heavily under his uniform and clutching onto what appeared to be the Admiral's leather briefcase. His gaze briefly met Hood's, and he appeared to actually flinch away from him, looking briefly in the direction of the Fleet Admiral, and then back down at the desk, muttering what sounded like a prayer in his native Brazilian Portuguese.

Had he a family member or a loved one that had deployed with Cole's new Battlegroup 15? Hood didn't know, in all probability the man was afraid of losing someone he loved in an engagement against this "Covenant." Hood would be scared for a sibling or other family member as well if he were in his shoes.

Hood finally reached Menendez, stepping behind the podium and shaking the aging man's hand.

"Hood, it's good to see you son. Has the Home Fleet been treating you well?" He asked, referring to Terrence's new posting as second in command of the combined 1st and 2nd Fleets.

The fleets, following the Colonial Military Authority campaign to retake Harvest, had been posted around Sol following the panic and loss of contact with the colony. Overnight, the number of ships posted at the Oort cloud and Luna station had doubled, fully 60% of all CMA Naval ships had been conscripted into the UNSC Navy for the duration of the crisis, and the small naval forces recalled had been reconstituted into the "Home Fleet", comprised of the Regular Navy's 1st Fleet forces, and the CMA's 2nd Fleet. Truthfully, the CMA's restructuring had been nominal at best: the largest change having been a few cans of white paint marking the aging corvettes and frigates as new property of the United Earth Government rather than the Colonial Military Authority, but Hood, being posted as the new commander of the fleet, had been busy putting out the political brush fire created as captains and crew posted to protect their _homes_ were conscripted and taken away from defending Earth's "colonies" in order to take up postings around the Mother planet in her defense.

It was a job that Hood's upbringing had certainly prepared him for. Nobody had batted an eye at the transfer request for a product of the British aristocracy, a Hood no less, requesting transfer from the XO posting of a _Phoenix_ -class colony ship to a staff officer position and a brevet promotion during a time of crisis. Hood still kept in touch with James Cutter, but the two had certainly never seen eye to eye. Cutter was a company man if there ever was one. He loved his ship and his crew...and his career had suffered from it. Hood knew he would never fulfil his dream of truly _leading_ men under the man, nor would he get true wartime experience on the _Spirit of Fire_ and he found himself as adjutant to Menendez for just over a year and a half before he was given a ship and then a flag rank.

"It's been going tough sir. CMA is going through the same troubles that HIGHCOM seems to have, only they don't have a unified command anymore. We struggle with some of the younger captains who want a stand down order to return to patrolling the Outer Colonies," Hood responded. He glanced at his watch and groaned internally, noting that he had missed a daily briefing with his new XO, Commodore Harper, regarding modernization of his new "fleet." More paperwork that he would fall behind on.

"Well, that is good. You're the most important person here really. I wanted you to know first, before FLEETCOM got wind...your boys are up." Menendez responded, stepping close and placing a soft hand on Hood's shoulder. Within 6 weeks I want the 2nd ready to deploy to Harvest to relieve Cole."

"2nd Fleet sir? But...why us?" His mouth seemed dry and his mind raced. He ran through the scenario in his mind. Surely the UNSC had real expeditionary fleets ready that could be sent to Harvest. The 5th, 7th, and 9th Fleets had been deployed to the Outer Colonies almost exclusively for the past 5 years fighting the Insurrection, and had permanent bases on Paris IV, Bliss, and New Vladivostok, it made little sense to send in a reserve fleet made up of militia ships no less.

"Because son, we don't know the size of this thing. The UEG is still trying to sort this out and they _don't_ think the current solution is deploying 3 battle fleets into the Outer Colonies. The situation is bad now," he stopped, looking back at the MAA who was doing his best to appear as if he was not absorbing not just their conversation, but the entire room's dialogue, before staring straight ahead and returning to parade rest as he noticed the CINO regard him, "Imagine dealing with this new alien threat while also dealing with Insurrectionists in the colonies protesting "military action."

"We...we can do it sir, but I'll need time to continue to forge the fleet. So far we only have 40 vessels and over half of them are the colonial equivalent of one of our frigates" He paused, pulling out a pocket datapad and showing the Admiral the breakdown of a fleet he doubtless knew most of the details about already.

"We will give you 7 more Tribal destroyers and a Halcyon to accompany you. _All Under Heaven_ is a good ship. Slow but from what Cole's data shows, they can take a beating." Menendez noted, leaning against the podium and pulling up a schematic.

"You'll send an invasion force made up of our ships to attack us then?"

An unfamiliar voice chimed in.

The Master At Arms was looking directly at Menendez...and he was clutching the grip of his sidearm, though he hadn't drawn it.

Whitcomb stood up from the table and slowly approached the podium, an arm outstretched in a calming motion."Young man, you're gonna need to calm down...nobody is invading anybody. This is to defend the Outer-"

"Shut the FUCK up you goddamn Yunny!" The man screamed, this time unholstering the shining M6 and aiming it at the approaching flag officer. "What did I tell you Zavala? They couldn't be fucking trusted!"

Suddenly the entire room turned their gazes on the adjutant, still sitting and not daring to meet the gaze of any of the flag officers questioning him. "They approached me...they have my kids...my wife. They said they'd kill them!"

"Zavala...put the briefcase down...we can talk about this…I can help you" an older female voice responded. Vice Admiral Parangosky normally had a steely-eyed look that could kill a misbehaving Ensign, but as Cole slowly, ever so slowly backed behind the CINO and into a position where he thought he _might_ do something about the gun-wielding terrorist, he noticed a glimpse of what appeared to be...fear in the woman's eyes.

"She can't. If any of you leaves here alive _Captain_ , then your family is dead. We will cut their throats dead like you Yunny pukes did at Eridanus! At Harvest!"

The MAA was interrupted as Hood took action. Terrence had slowly closed within arms reach of the Insurrectionist and went for his M6. The two briefly struggled before going to ground. The Marine imposter was strong, too strong, corded muscle struck like a locomotive and punched Hood upside the head. All he could do is fight the man for his gun. He reached up and grabbed the man by the neck, squeezing at his jugular hard, but the MAA responded in kind by breaking his shooting hand free and moving it to aim it at Hood. He had less than second before it was all over, and he used it to drive his knee into the man's groin. Hard. He rocked forward in agony, allowing Hood time to slap the firearm away and deliver a palm strike to his head. He rolled out from under his attacker, returning the struggle to more even terms as he held the man's face down, struggling to peel finger after finger off the firearm's grip when he heard a shout.

The other officers in the room had surrounded Zavala, desperately trying to reason with the man, who had opened his briefcase...revealing a tangle of wires and at least 20 lbs of C12 high explosives.

"DO IT!"

Hood screamed, forcing the gun from the terrorists hand as he tried to stand, aiming the sights at the Captain before it was too late. Time seemed to move slowly. Too slowly. Zavala pressed the detonator that had been hidden up his sleeve. Hood was tripped by the grip of the man he'd just fought. He stumbled behind the podium and watched the fireball as it engulfed over 20 officers. He watched as friends he had known for years were incinerated. He watched as Jose Menendez was thrown clear by the blast, impacting the wall behind him with sickening thud and the still finality of a man that would never breathe again. He would later learn that he watched 73 different pieces of shrapnel impact the speaker's podium that he had tripped behind, inadvertently saved by known Insurrectionist Daniel Miller who had murdered and assumed the identity of a UNSC Marine 72 hours prior. He would stew over the name of that Marine that night, hoping his widow would find some solace in knowing that Hood put a 12.7mm slug into his head 8 seconds after the explosion according to AI surveillance of the room.

At 0103 hours on April 23rd, Terrence Hood would learn he was one of two survivors from the HIGHCOM bombing. Danforth Whitcomb was the other survivor. Through sheer luck he had decided to charge the front of the room with the hope of opening the door and call for help from real guards that could have ended the situation. The blast had blown him clear...and also severed his left arm neatly at the elbow. Based on the chain of command he was now Commander in Chief of Naval Operations, and that made Hood his Vice Chief. It also meant that 20 flag positions were now empty.

The defenders of humanity now had no leadership.

Well, no structure anyway. Hood sat quietly in a dark unfamiliar office. An office belonging to the 2nd most powerful man in the UNSC. That man was dead, and Hood was in his place, playing a chess game for the fate of all of humanity, and he needed to know where his pieces were.

He made the call.

30 MINUTES LATER, UNSC _Everest_

"Cole...it's Terrence. We are recalling you."

"Hood we just retook a planet from a hostile alien force. We aren't gonna retreat now!"

"Not your fleet. You. You're my new head of NAVCOM."

 **This is an alternate-reality scenario. A made up butterfly effect to explore what humanity could have achieved without a Halo. What a change in leadership at the start of a conflict can do to an organization. Without spoiling too much, Star Trek fans will understand that this version of the Halo universe will look much like it is in a mirror, darkly.**

 **I claim no ownership of Halo or any properties within, all belong to Microsoft. This is a fan work of fiction I derive no monetary profit from.**


	2. Chapter 2: Chi Ceti

CHAPTER 2: Tau Ceti

Chief Petty Officer John-117

1745 HOURS, NOVEMBER 27, 2526

UNSC Frigate _Commonwealth,_ Battle Group 9-1 en route to UNSC Damascus Materials Testing Facility, planet Chi Ceti 4

The view screen in the bunk room of the UNSC frigate _Commonwealth_ clicked online as the ship entered normal space. Ice particles glistened in the external cameras as John watched and continued to ponder just what the SPARTANS were doing out here far beyond the Inner Colonies.

For the past year, the SPARTAN IIs had been finished with their training, but rather than engage the hostile alien threat that had been revealed to all humanity as the Covenant, his brothers and sisters had been sent throughout all known space, putting out political and military brush fires as Insurrectionists cells protested what they called "unjust military action" against Outer Colonies like Harvest. The vast majority of terrorist threats had halted after real footage of the Battle of Harvest had been revealed to the media by ONI Section II, but it wasn't enough for the most extremist factions.

John was thrilled that his teams had accomplished their missions in totality, eliminating dozens of terrorist cells and saving thousands of lives all without taking a single casualty. However, their success came at a cost to Dr. Halsey:a motherly figure to the Spartans and who desperately wanted to get them to this new facility for what she referred to as a "much needed tool to help them."

He looked up the word _Mjolnir_ in the education database again. Mjolnir was the hammer used by Thor, a Norse god of thunder. Project MJOLNIR IV must have been a weapon developed for his team. He hoped this meant his team would soon be deployed against the real alien threat soon.

Hopefully their trek to the edge of human-controlled space would be worth it, considering his entire team's discomfort in space. He watched as Blue Team sat close, playing a game of poker while Sam was chatting away with half of Red, and Green was having a PT session. If they weren't stuck in cryo-waiting to die-they were sitting around and waiting for their next mission-and possibly die. It wasn't a heartwarming situation in any case. His thoughts were answered almost telepathically.

" _Spartan-117,"_ Dr. Halsey's voice blared over the SHIPCOM. " _Report to the bridge immediately."_

John keyed the intercom "Aye, ma'am!" He turned to Sam, Kelly, and the rest of his team. "Get everyone ready. This is it."

"Aye," Sam said. "You heard the Chief! Uniforms up! Weapons loaded!"

John double-timed it to the lift for the area and punched the security access code for the bridge. Taking a minute to ensure his uniform looked appropriate and smoothing down his short brown hair, he paused before stepping out as the doors opened to the bridge.

Every single wall was covered from floor to ceiling with readouts and charts. Some showed distant nebulas, while others revealed a constant communication stream between _Commonwealth_ and her two escort ships for this mission, the corvettes _Stalwart_ and _Voyageur_. John halted at the bridge center, saluting Commodore Wallace, and nodded to Dr. Halsey. Wallace stood leaning against the brass railing that ringed the center of the bridge, his right arm out stretched while his left scratched his chin gently, pondering some sort of information that John obviously hadn't been privy to as of yet.

Wallace returned the salute and gestured to the screen in front of him. "I agree Doctor...there's our ghost. 80 million kilometers and closing, just like at Harvest."

"Agreed," responded Dr. Halsey. She looked at John and explained, "We haven't let this be widely known, but the Covenant were capable of executing an intrasystem jump during the Battle of Harvest."

"That shouldn't be possible," responded the new Commodore, "We can't navigate Slipspace that accurately...but less than a year ago we thought a planet couldn't be totally destroyed by plasma either…"

He stepped back from the podium and called out, "Signal the fleet, General Quarters, all hands to battlestations. This is _not_ a drill. Covenant signals detected. Lieutenant, bring the MAC online, reactor at 110%, load Archer Pods and arm a SHIVA...bring us about."

"Chief Petty Officer!" Dr. Halsey shouted over the new noise and activity on the bridge, "We will be using a Pelican dropship to reach the Damascus facility.

" _Stalwart, Voyageur_ , move to blocking positions, we need to-." Suddenly the viewscreen was filled with brilliant blue light as the bow of a massive, whale-shaped warship filled the viewscreen, materializing in front of the battlegroup a scant 8,000 meters from the corvettes.

To their credit, the bridge crews of the smaller ships sprang into action almost immediately. While _Achilles_ class corvettes were small craft, less than half the tonnage of any UNSC frigate, and they lacked some armament featured prominently on larger ships including Magnetic Accelerator Cannons they were still remarkably well armed craft for their size; so well armed that prior to the events of earlier that year, the Admiralty board was considering scrapping the project to rely instead on the more lightly armed _Mako_ class corvette-courier class of ships in order to save costs. John was glad that the new CNO, Admiral Whitcomb had decided against that and instead doubled the orders of those vessels in order to ensure that each intra-system patrol had at least 3 vessels with them in case any Covenant craft attacked.

This prudent thinking was put into practice as their escorts closed in to a nearly suicidal 4,000 meters away and opened fire on the Covenant vessel with 6 dorsal and ventral rail guns, and dozens of Growler missiles. Immediately, blue flashes of light flared on the view screens as the Covenant vessel's shields activated. A nearly constant dome of light surrounded the vessel as its attackers pressed on, orbiting the ship.

The Covenant vessel's own guns flashed in response, as pulse laser impacts began battering the ship. Suddenly one port on the dorsal side of the ship flashed, belching a massive purple orb that took off in the direction of the _Stalwart_ , narrowly missing the corvette, which spun a full 360 degrees and dove relative _down_ under the Covenant vessel to dodge the plasma torpedo. Unfortunately, as it flashed by, John could see the ship was still affected, as one side of the vessel had half of its armor boiled away, and only half of its maneuvering thrusters were responding.

"MAC gun is online sir!" shouted the lieutenant at the weapons station.

"Ram it down their throat lieutenant! Fire!" shouted Wallace, as the entire ship shook, sending a slug of tungsten at 0.25% the speed of light.

The MAC round flashed across the minute space between the two ships as one of humanity's most powerful conventional weapons tore across space and impacted the Covenant shields...and managed to break through. Though the slug had lost much of its kinetic energy, it successfully impacted the bulbous nose of the cruiser, smashing its perfect curvature and causing a secondary explosion, blowing a massive piece of the hull into space and venting atmosphere. The response was swift from the ship however, as a series of pulse laser shots were fired from the underside of the vessel.

John quickly grasped for the command platform's railing and hugged Dr. Halsey to him for safety as the _Commonwealth_ was wrecked by the shots.

"Inter-system comms down! Smart AI offline! We've lost dorsal and port maneuvering thrusters!"

"Pull us off! Full thrust! Make for Chi Ceti! Contact ground forces and ask for support!" Wallace shouted, voice full of authority as he looked to John and the Doctor.

"Your Spartans saved my daughter's life on Paris IV two weeks ago Spartan...whatever tool is down there, I _know_ you will use to win this war. You're getting down there no matter the cost to this ship. Get to the drop ship."

"Aye sir!" responded the Chief, saluting and running with the doctor to the lift and punching the button for the bridge.

"Chief Petty Officer, I recommend you tell your team to prepare for combat. We will need every Spartan on the planet to recover the system we've designed for you-" the doctor began, before the lift door opened to reveal 3 dozen Spartan super soldiers fully kitted out in UNSC battle dress with weapons armed, waiting anxiously next to a Pelican drop ship.

"I forget myself….we trained you for situations like this. I see you've prepared." she stated, brushing some stray hair from her eyes and analyzing her data pad as she walked across the small hanger deck to this ship

"Aye ma'am, the 2s are ready for deployment." responded Sam with a casual salute, which he dropped to steady himself, another shudder through the hull of the _Commonwealth_ signalled another firing of the vessel's Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, which the ship's superstructure protested by groaning like a wounded beast.

"Wallace to Dr. Halsey!" the captain chimed in through the Spartans' TEAMCOM. "We will be over the planet in 3 minutes. The Covenant ship is fleeing! We think that last MAC shot and attack by our escort damaged the vessel's power system! We are using this chance to drop your team off Doctor! Good luck!"

The Spartans quickly boarded the Pelican, Dr. Halsey and John entering last and sitting at the controls of the vessel, before taking off out of the hanger. As they exited the ship they saw the carnage that the Covenant vessel-rapidly retreating in the front view screen-had caused to their patrol group. The _Stalwart_ was still spinning and drifting with very little signs of life from the crew.

The _Voyageur_ had avoided some damage, but it was not without damage. She was losing atmosphere from somewhere in her starboard crew section and was pox marked with impacts from laser bursts. _Commonwealth_ looked somewhat better. She was scorched from plasma impacts and much of her communications array was gone, but she had survived the assault. The Covenant ship meanwhile, was turning away, lurking like a lumbering beast as it turned towards the planet, glowing the faintest traces of red as it entered the planet's atmosphere a few hundred miles away from the twinkling lights of the nearest settlement on Chi Ceti.

It was to be a ground fight then. John only hoped that Dr. Halsey's weapon would help them fight it.

 **2491 Hours**

 **HIGHCOM**

"We need to fill these seats Danforth."

"And we will…." wheezed a response. "I've sent the names I want to you and Cole. I think they're good picks."

"IIs...are you sure? The public will no doubt have questions about the program."

"Go public. It really doesn't matter now. The Insurrection is dead, Halsey's kids wiped it out. There may be protests but it won't matter in the face of annihilation. Ackerson's got guts. Putting him in charge of Section II was a good call. Proving the Covenant are a real threat gave us pull in the UEG and more importantly resources."

"52% of the entire economy of humanity...I feel an awful lot like an old colonialist." remarked Hood, as he scratched his beard.

"We need to make it count, it won't matter if these casualty rates keep coming in."

"You think that Spartans will lend a fresh perspective?"

Fleet Admiral David Whitcomb stood from his office chair, leaning slightly on a cane that helped support a leg encased in a brace and coughed out a puff of cigar smoke inhaled through a pair of charred and shot lungs.

"I'm counting on it."

/

 **Thank you for those that have already followed and subscribed. I'm hoping to begin weekly updates. But chapters will not be longer until Christmas, as I'm dealing with school and working full time.**

 **The UNSC is on its way to going full Deus Vult. Just wait.**


	3. Chapter 3: Triumphant

Chapter 3: Triumphant Where it Dares Defy...

November 27, 2526.

 _Damascus_ Testing Facility, Chi Ceti IV

John and the other Spartans had been confined to an elevator for what seemed like hours, and yet the freight elevator was still descending into the depths of Chi Ceti 4. He took a moment to survey his team. All of the Spartans appeared to be on edge. Universally clad in UNSC Naval Operator fatigues dark gray in color, and made up of a semi-rigid sealable undersuit, covered by combat pants with integral knee pads and a UBAC shirt with velcro on the right bicep notating the Spartan's number designation and rank, every single Spartan II was totally equipped and had weapons ready for whatever greeted them on the other side of the elevator.

The doors finally slid open, and they emerged in a well-lit, hastily prepared research center. Dozens of technicians and several AI holograms were busy in the center of the room however, and all work stopped when the Spartans disembarked and Dr. Halsey cleared her throat.

John then noticed the mannequins set up in rows. On each was a suit of what appeared to be powered armor.

The armor reminded John of the Mark I and II Cyclops armors that he and his team had encountered regularly in their training, but much less bulky, more compact, more deadly. He approached one and saw the suit was actually made up of several layers, the outer layer was solid black, an inky darkness that absorbed every bit of light directed at it from the overhead tubes. The visor was a dark bronze, etched with microfilament and nanoweave strengthening wires that connected to some kind of imaging device on the side of the helmet. The other layer covered the groin, thighs, knees and shins, chest, shoulders, and forearms, layered like the armor of a knight of the Middle Ages. The back was covered by an integrated power pack, with small open ports at the bottom, possibly for heat transference.

"Project MJOLNIR." Dr. Halsey announced. She snapped her fingers and from the holoprojector at the center of the room, an exploded schematic of the armor appeared next to her. The majority of the armor was a light blue, but several components glowed an iridescent green.

"The armor's shell is a multilayer Titanium-Inconel housing covering composite layered chip sets. The armor is rated for thermal exposure akin to the destruction of a UNSC warship's fission reactor. The shell is also host to a unique addition from R&D in Section 3: A reflective coating to better ablate plasma attacks, sure to come in useful in fighting our new adversaries, but also helpful in absorbing and reflecting incoming light when a charge passes through it. A form of "chameleon camouflage" if you will. It will not render you invisible, but will make you harder to hit.

The doctor continued on as the Chief read the schematics himself. It appeared the project had been heavily modified in the year since the Covenant had been discovered and had been completely enhanced to fight the Covenant. Advanced maneuvering tools had been added, refinements in close quarters battle had been achieved (via two _very_ deadly spring loaded forearm blades in each gauntlet), and-.

"Most importantly," Dr. Halsey continued, "the armor's inner structure is composed of strength-enhancing capillaries. It amplifies strength in simple terms, and can be overcharged in short periods to near 1000% efficiency. However…."

She gestured to the holotank. The Spartans watched in silence as a normal Marine Lieutenant attempted to move in the suit, and as he made a minute adjustment...suffice to say, the Chief Petty Officer had never heard a scream so loud.

"Only you have the ability to use these suits. Only your bones are strong enough and your reactions fast enough. With that, I'll need volunteers."

John couldn't step forward fast enough. Of course, Kelly beat him to the punch, snapping to attention a fraction of a second before him, but John was proud to see that every single Spartan had risen to the occasion.

They were ready to begin testing the armor, when the communications console flared to life, and the disheveled image of Captain Wallace flickered into view.

"Doctor! This is Wallace. We were unable to keep the Covenant vessel from fleeing. And they've done so successfully. Our missiles are gone. Tactical nukes had some effect against their shields. I'm afraid they've left our AO."

"Isn't that good news?" Halsey responded, frowning slightly.

"No, the Covenant are heading _directly_...your facility...need to get out." And then only static. The _Commonwealth_ was either experiencing communications problems, or Wallace was daringly following the Covenant vessel into atmo...as it approached the Damascus facility at full speed.

Halsey allowed herself a tiny smile, and looked to the room of technicians, and the three dozen Spartans eager to try out their new equipment.

"Suit them up. It's time for the Spartans to fight the Covenant, and this time, we are going to win."

2037 Hours, November 27 2525

In orbit over Chi Ceti 4

John sat at the controls of the Pelican, guiding it through the exit burn of their orbital path; a parabolic arc that took them straight up over the skies of the Damascus testing facility, and right back down again through the thin atmosphere of the rocky planet, directly towards the colossal Covenant cruiser which could be faintly seen, shining an iridescent purple in the glow of Chi Ceti's star.

Dr. Halsey's image appeared in the hologram projector mounted on the dashboard. "Captain Wallace says that the shields of the Covenant vessel have been rendered inoperable and they have not launched any fighter aircraft for the time being. However, _Commonwealth's_ maneuvering thrusters are offline, and they will not be able to assist you in this fight. What is your goal Chief Petty Officer?"

"We board the ship, kill everyone on board. Take control of the cruiser." The Chief replied from behind his visor. He grinned, this would be the moment. It was time for his team to do what they had been _made_ to do. Not stopping fights between humans, but defending humanity as a was time to take their place among the stars.

"I see," she adjusted her glasses. " Well you'll have to be quick about it, and since you haven't designed to fill me in on your plan… I certainly hope your goal isn't to crash a Pelican drop ship into the hull."

"No," John grinned, "We aren't _just_ doing that ma'am."

With that John punched a few commands into the console, terminating the communications signal, arming every single one of the Pelican's Anvil II HE missiles, and setting the autopilot.

As the Pelican entered the thin atmosphere, it began to buck and weave as the thin atmosphere winds began to buckle the hull structure. His sensors read that the temperature in the cabin was reaching 39 degrees Celcius and climbing despite surface temperatures near absolute zero. They were burning up, but they wouldn't stay long. He magnetized the boots of his MJOLNIR and stepped into the troop bay to be greeted by every single Spartan II, looking silent, and absolutely deadly in their identical jet black armor.

"Spartans, prepare thruster packs. Get ready to go EVA. We're taking the fight to the Covenant once we reach 15 seconds from impact."

"Everyone's got C-12" Sam said, standing and handing John a small metal container, with a patch of covered adhesive on one side. "In case we still need to blast our way in once we're inside."

"Thanks Sam…"The two clasped hands quickly, nodding to one another almost invisibly before John regarded the Spartans again. "GET SET FOR DROP!"

All 32 of them stood up, imobile save for flexing their knees as the ship continued its acceleration. They turned to face the back of the ship, magnetic locks on their boots disengaged as the backs of every single suit of MJOLNIR started to pulse blue.

"5,000 feet…" Kelly began, standing in typical fashion, in front of the line at the edge of the drop door, "4,000, 3,000….20 seconds to impact."

"JUMP!" The integral thrusters of every suit flared to life as every single Spartan jetted out of the back of the now spinning Pelican. They adjusted for jet wash, and began a free fall towards the top of the Covenant Cruiser.

The Pelican continued its acceleration, flying directly towards the Covenant ship as John righted himself and formed a loose formation with the rest of his Spartans. Blue Team, making minute adjustments utilizing the new onboard thrust packs, installed at the Damascus facility just two weeks prior at the insistence of a new R&D lead at Section 3, formed a phalanx formation as they fell, with John at its head.

"Blue Team, soon as we hit, we're first into the hole. Lock on to the nearest power source. Red, your goal is to find a command center of some sort. ONI Section 1 believes it's near the middle of the ship. Green Team, search and destroy. If any of them surrender, stun pulses and interrogation, but kill the rest. Clear?"

32 green status lights winked in response on his HUD as he looked what felt like _up_ , at the Covenant vessel, just as it was impacted by the Pelican.

Each Anvil II HE warhead could easily destroy a concrete bunker...that was under 250 meters of dirt. Each Pelican carried 16 of these warheads. John grinned behind his visor as the drop ship impacted directly in the middle of the cruiser at its largest point and detonated. The shockwave actually blew him off course slightly, but he corrected with a microburst of his thrusters. He could see movement as the smoke cleared. There were creatures on the surface of the vessel, but that didn't matter. None of it mattered. The Spartans had a mission and the Covenant would just learn what happened when they got in the way.

"THRUST!"

32 Spartans activated their jet packs, slowing absolute velocity down to almost nil just meters from impact. Contrary to expectations they didn't make a single sound in the thin atmosphere.

Chief could see creatures crawling from the hole in the hull that was easily 30 meters wide and went down several decks. The first was a small alien, about 1 meter tall with a triangular tank on its back, but followed by that were several creatures with what appeared to be glowing energy shields on their arms, and one very large alien standing easily 2.8 meters and holding a strange dual-handled weapon glowing blue.

"Contact! 1 Grunt, two Jackals, one Elite!" called out Linda, referring to the aliens by the colloquial terms already given to them by the Marines. She fired her SR99A2 immediately. The first round impacting the shields of the blue-armored Elite, who dove down into the crater and blindly fired his plasma rifle in response.

The Chief prepared a fragmentation grenade, tossing it high and letting it bounce in the group of Jackals.

The rest of the Spartans simply opened fire with their MA5's pilfered from the Damascus armories. The poor grunt, shredded by 7.62, was simply erased by the frag grenade, but the Jackals held their own for a moment more, before Sam jumped over a piece of wreckage caused by the Pelican's crash, and tackled one of the creatures, feeding it five shredder rounds right from his muzzle. James got the second kill, shooting the other alien in the back.

The team took positions at the edge of the crater, and now saw the true damage that the pelican had caused. The damage travelled for 3 decks, down into the bowels of the ship.

"Spartans, split up. We have a job to do." Chief ordered. Red Lead and Green lead's lights blinked green, and he watched Joshua and Kurt lead their teams in separate paths as they jumped into the hole, using their thrusters to guide them. Joshua went down a pink corridor to the left, while Kurt and his team went down the first, outermost hull hallway they had opened up. John could see his reasoning; in UNSC vessels, crew compartments were often in the other structure to create as much distance between the radioactive reactor at the center of the ship and the living crew. Unfortunately, John knew this usually meant the poor crewmen were the first hit by weapons fire.

Focus. He exhaled and nodded to Blue Team, who were crouched on the lip of the crater and waiting for his signal. With a nod, he actuated a chin button inside of his helmet, and looked down, confirming that where a jet black forearm plate had been before, was now blending in flawlessly with the cruiser's purple deck plating. The rest of the team followed suit and disappeared from view as he blinked his ready light twice, and jumped into the hole. The world flew by faster than he was expecting, with the half-ton MJOLNIR pulling him to the surface faster than if he were his normal weight in the sub-G environment. He feathered his thruster control once, a meter and a half off the deck and landed silently, with Kelly, Sam, Fred, and Linda landing behind.

They raised their weapons silently, and began moving through the ship.

"Power surge detected. 220 meters forward and port Chief."

"Good, move up, nice and slow."

The acknowledgement lights flipped green as the four Spartans slowly advanced with their weapons ready. The decks were unusually silent, with none of the usual continuous hum of the fusion reactors on a human vessel. The lights in the corridors blazed steadily on the shining purple deck plates which would have been a bother to John's sensitive eyes if his MJOLNIR's visor wasn't compensating for the glare. Occasionally, Blue Team would hear the staccato fire of a pair or trio of assault rifles firing away at the Covenant, but their path remained clear until they arrived to a set of massive doors, behind which the energy signature pinged on John's HUD.

"Prepare breaching charge. Watch your fire, we don't want to destroy the ship, just disable the crew."

Kelly, Sam, and Fred nodded, with Sam pulling out his packet of C-12 and setting the charge on the door, with that, he moved to the right side, with Kelly behind him, Fred taking up the left, and John standing directly in front 10 steps away with his rifle ready.

"Breach!"

The explosive detonated with a palming of Sam's hand, and the door blew inward. What John saw first was not what he was expecting.

A large blue...sack, with tentacles dangling from it, and what looked like the face of an eel floated in front of him, and it let out a wailing and almost sad _toot_ as it looked at the destroyed door. Sam raised his rifle, but John motioned for him to lower it, as the creature moved out of the way and began interfacing using its smaller tentacles, to manipulate the now blown apart access console to the door.

"Move in Blue Team." said John, motioning for the team to enter the room and fan out. The door was shaped like a large cylinder, with a massive pillar of glowing plasma in the center protected by a forcefield, with three floors of catwalks surrounding it.

All was quiet, until John's visor adjusted for the additional glare and he saw a _massive_ frame appear from behind the pillar, and a massive beam of green plasma tear through the room in his direction.

"Chief!" shouted Sam, as he pushed John out of the way of the blast. The brunt of the force was directed at the ground, but John could feel the heat as the green ionizing substance burned through the first protective coating of his armor, revealing what appeared to be the dull green color of the original layer on his legs and forearm. Sam's armor also looked damaged, but he rolled to his feet and dove behind the same cover as John.

He chanced a peak to see what was happening.

Not just one, but _two_ of the large creatures had been hiding in the room, and Fred and Kelly were firing on them with accurate fire from their assault rifles. Both creatures were hunched behind massive shields made of the same metallic material as their bodies, but around the joints John could see bright orange wriggling movements. He recalled talks with Deja in his lessons, where the holograms of certain vehicles in simulations had their weak points highlighted in bright red, and inspiration struck him.

"Blue Team! Get ready to fire, frag out!" With that he pulled a pin and threw a fragmentation grenade before diving out of cover.

Like he suspected, the large creatures ignored the small device, focusing their fire on the Chief as he made himself an obvious target. However, the grenade was not to be denied its respect, and as it detonated behind them, John saw their "shells" did not protect their backs as well as their fronts, and the detonation caused a massive spray of bright orange flesh and blood to coat the wall behind them. They were still alive however, but in this time, Kelly had managed to jump onto one of the catwalks and took the chance to dive onto one of the creatures. Pulling her combat knife she jammed it into the "neck" of one of the creatures, cutting deeply into the eel like creatures within. The other creature let out a loud scream, charging its arm cannon and aiming it directly at Kelly, who was wrestling the creature like a rodeo bull. But as it turned, Sam and Fred opened fire on it from nearly point black with their rifles, finally causing the creature to topple over.

John sprinted forward now, pulling a second grenade from his vest and bating away the shield of the creature, stepping inside its guard. He extended his gauntlet bayonet and jammed it into the gut of the creature. "Frag out."

With that he pulled the pin and kicked the massive creature away, back out the door they came in. The _Hunter_ looked down and let out a deep wail, before its stomach exploded in a shower of gore and eels, before the plates slumped to the ground.

"John got up, just a bit out of breath, and the rest of the team joined him.

"One hell of a fight," Sam said, brushing some of the still smoldering camouflage coating off of his armor.

"Hopefully one hell of a victory."

0145

HIGHCOM

A vibrating alarm woke him from his deep slumber. Hood hadn't remembered the last time he had slept well. HIGHCOM was hardly a quiet place, and these days, he found that he rarely left it but to see the outside once in a blue moon. But he supposed that was the point, after the old facility was destroyed, better measures needed to be found to protect military leadership. He was just astounded that Danforth had not found much pushback from ONI on his proposal.

He grunted and turned on the communicator, not even bothering to look awake for the holoprojector as he sat up in his bed in his quarters.

"What is it Fhajad?" he grunted, speaking to the former Spartan trainee. The man had a good eye for intelligence and data gathering, so at Hood's wishes, he had quickly been fast tracked into ONI Section One over the previous year, however, after the HIGHCOM bombing, he had been fast tracked through the ranks and made a full acting Captain in the organization, charged with R&D for fighting the Covenant, and working with reproducing some of their advanced designs."

"Its the Spartan IIs sir, regarding Chi Ceti," he responded, even through the grainy image, showing a mild tremor due to his Parkinson's.

"Is this good news or bad, Captain?"

"They're requesting a tug station and reinforcements ASAP. Operation Red Wing was a complete success."

Hood allowed a small smile.

-/

I'm really sorry for the delay in this story. Finals, and then Escape from Tarkov took me away from it. I'll strive to make updates more frequent, and now that a good deal of the early writing is out of the way and I'll be able to do more of my own thing, I'll be more inspired to write. I just needed to get the layout, and Chi Ceti out of the way to set the stage for a major plot change in the universe. This will also be the last we will see of the Spartans for a while, but don't worry, when they return it will be worth it.


	4. Interlude 1: Early Weapons of War

**ACCESSING UTE MILITARY DATABASE**

 **ENTER ACCESS CODE: *********

 **ENTER SECURE USERNAME: THEDOCTORSLEEPS**

 **ACCESS...GRANTED**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **WELCOME ADMIRAL**

 **QUERY: EARLY WAR EQUIPMENT**

 **ACCESSING:**

 **...**

 **OPENING FILE:/**

 _Achilles_ -class Attack Corvette

Ships in class: UNSC CCA-01941 commissioned Sep 1 2524/ **UTWS** CCA-10412 _Diamond Edge_ commissioned Aug 2 2558

Size: 312m long

Crew: 50, (16 officers, 24 crew, 10 marines)

Power: Deuterium Nuclear Reactor

Hull: 22cm Titanium-A armor (Pre 2532), 13cm Titanium B-CPAP INDUTWEAVE (current)

Armament: 6 Mk 48 Self-Loading Asynchronous Linear-Induction Gauss Cannons (dorsal and ventral mounting points, A Flight),1 Mk66 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, 4 Mk 56 Self-Loading Asynchronous Linear Gauss Beams (B Flight 2532 onward)

12 Archer Missiles mounted in 2 pod launchers (replaced with Rapier anti-fighter missiles in 2530)

4 M910 Rampart Point Defense Guns

1 Pelican Dropship

Infantry Armory

First developed in 2523 as a light patrol vessel for use in the then-Outer Colonies of human space. The _Achilles_ class of warships is very heavily armed for its original role. Seen as a firm hand on the shoulder of frontier world's when the presence of a UNSC frigate would have been seen as a needless expense, they would have been well traveled craft indeed. In 2525, the project was seen as too expensive, and not worthwhile to the Admiralty, when the faster and lightly armed and armored _Mako_ class corvette-couriers could do the job at a third the price per unit.

Following the HIGHCOM bombings in 2526, however, the UNSC began a massive rearmament campaign, and based on the wisdom of Fleet Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, the _Achilles_ class stayed in service, and an initial order of 500 of the patrol vessels and instigating General Order No. 60, stating that no UNSC Navy vessels patrolling the Outer Colonies would ever engage a Covenant ship alone, and that doing so would be a "suicidal and nearly traitorous action resulting almost invariably in the needless destruction of human life, property, and an increased risk in computer capture resulting in the exposure of other colonies to Covenant attack."

As such, each corvette on patrol duty almost invariably does so alongside another _Achilles_ , and a frigate such as a _Charon_ or _Paris_ class.. The smaller vessels, lacking a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon system until their refit during the Covenant War, act as buffer ships engaging single Covenant ships using weakening and harassing fire from their ventral and dorsal gauss cannons, while the frigate attacks from a distance with its MAC gun. These wolfpack tactics were also utilized in larger engagements, such as the Battle of Psi Serpentis, the Slaughter of New Paris, and the complete victory at System's End.

To date, the Navy has not retired any of these small craft aside from those too damaged to continue the fight. Several have also been converted into _Aardvark_ -class minelayers, and _Whirlpool_ -class combat Prowlers.

In the 2240s, the improvement of personal defense technology throughout the fleet meant that all new ships were outfitted with Mk VI-AX124 Electromagnetic Field Generators for defense against energy based weapons. While these were not as effective as Covenant shields, they were capable of dispensing large EM waves, making plasma torpedoes and point defense lasers less effective.

The commanders and crew of these vessels have been labeled everything from brave to suicidal, as their weapons systems and tactics usually necessitate point-blank engagement distance of even the largest Covenant craft. Their vehicle bays can also be modified for the deployment of a single squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, Spartan Shock Units, Spartan Support Units, Helldiver "Reaper" Units, or the rapid drop of a single M808F Black Scorpion or M808G Gauss Scorpion Main Battle Tank and Main Siege Unit.

 _MA6 Individual Combat Weapons System_

Ammunition Type: M198 5.68mm

Rate of Fire: 550 RPM

Weight: 8.2 lbs with integrated scope

The MA48 ICWS, formally known as the Individual Combat Weapon System, Caliber 5.68mm MA48, and the MA6 by the UTDC Marines and Navy, is a standard issue service rifle of the Terran Defense Command.

The MA48 was first introduced in 2528, and has remained the primary service rifle of all branches of the UTWC ever since. It is an air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed, fully-automatic conventional rifle that typically feeds from a 30 round magazine of 5.68mm ammunition. It possesses a built in ammunition indicator, and magnetic compass for orientation. It has a relatively low rate of fire, making it more effective at long ranges.

The MA48 was developed following input from units on the ground during the Siege of Harvest and sporadic battles in the Outer Colonies during the early years of the First Contact War. Covenant shield technology is now understood to have two major weaknesses. The first being that repeated impacts to the shield bubble prevents energy reserves from being utilized to restore the integrity of the EM bubble, and second, the shield bubble weakens in certain areas of high stress over the cover of an object. The MA48 takes advantage of these by utilizing solid rifle design with a longer barrel and firing a much smaller projective that produces less recoil on firing, allowing one to maintain shots on target in fully automatic firing. As such the MA48 is much more effective at taking down shielded targets than its predecessors the MA5 or XBR55 as the user can focus on the more thinly shielded areas of Covenant Elites such as the groin, armpits, and the heads of the large creatures.

Misarah has also developed a carbine variant; the MA6K, a heavy barreled squad-support variant, the MA6C, and an integrally suppressed special forces variant chambered in .300 caliber 7.62 ammunition referred to colloquially as ".300 Blackout" known as the MA6SK.

 _MJOLNIR Mark IVB:_

Entered Service: 2526

The MJOLNIR Mark IVB Powered Assault Armor was the fourth of nine versions of the Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor. The suit was issued exclusively to SPARTAN-II commandos until the mid-war period, and was replaced by Mark V, and Mark V CENTURION armors in certain circumstances, though certain specialized units were utilizing the cheaper Mark IV well into the end of war period.

Created alongside the SPARTAN-II Program, the Mark IV Armor was a radical departure from previous UNSC Powered Armor designs, and utilized an independent power generation system, multilayer alloy construction, a gel-filled layer under a black bodysuit, and strength-multiplying microfilaments. It was a devastating tool to be used against the Insurrection. However, with the revelation of the Covenant threat to humanity in 2525, Dr. Halsey's budget shot through the roof, and in 2526 the armors were modified using technology from a secret codevelopment laboratory in Korea, delivering the Mark IVB variant which was issued to all SPARTAN-IIs in 2526, improvements included improved armor coatings to better protect against plasma weapons, active camouflage technology to better blend into the surroundings using photo-reactive sensors, and improved Independent Thruster Mobility Systems and integral melee weapons.

Some of the most famous battles of the Covenant War were conducted by SPARTAN-IIs wearing Mark IVB, but it was a precursor to the glory that would come later when they accessed their true potential in later generations. Today, in MJOLNIR GEN III, VIKING and ILIOS units could easily destroy and defeat the Mark IVB, but it was nonetheless an important protecting piece of humanity and shall be preserved in our history forever.

 **I'll be including interludes like this throughout the story, describing little pieces of technology in greater detail. What is the UTE? What does UTWS mean? Hmm...you'll have to wait and see.**


End file.
